


Peter Parker and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad School Trip

by GinnyRose



Series: Peter Parker: Disaster Bi Extraordinaire [8]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: But Not Intentional, First Real Fight, Fluff, Heteronormativity is One Hell of a Drug, Homophobic Language, Hotel Kissing, M/M, MJ is a Good Bro, Miscommunication, Ned Leeds is a Good Boyfriend, Oblivious Flash, Oblivious Teachers, Piggy Back Riding, Protective Ned Leeds, Protective Peter Parker, School Trip, Sleepy Peter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-22
Updated: 2018-10-13
Packaged: 2019-06-30 22:59:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 21,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15761460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GinnyRose/pseuds/GinnyRose
Summary: Peter was just hoping Mr. Harrington would put Ned into the room with the other two boys and leave Peter to Flash.He was a little worried that Ned or Flash wouldn’t make it out from the room intact if they were forced to share.He was honestly a little more worried that Flash wouldn’t come out.He was actually a lot worried for Flash. Ned was secretly terrifying.Peter would think about why that made him feel uncomfortably warm later.Or: The Academic Decathlon meet was supposed to be a fun trip out of town but Flash always manages to be around to ruin everything.





	1. Chapter 1

Peter and Ned were officially _that_ couple. Constantly touching, constantly talking to or about each other. Doing practically everything together. They were careful to never be too over the top about it – they didn’t make out in the hallways in school and they still made sure to spend time with the other important people in their lives, but they were also very _obviously_ together. Peter was always pressing featherlight kisses on Ned’s cheek and Ned was always reaching to hold Peter’s hand or pressing their shoulders together. They always sat close enough that they were touching, sometimes with their ankles locked together or with Peter half on Ned’s lap. On more than one occasion, Peter had worn one of Ned’s sweaters to school. Both of their Instagram accounts were filled with pictures of the two of them and most of the images on Peter’s Snapchat story were couple photos.

It was just common fact around Midtown – Peter and Ned were _that_ couple. And Peter loved it. Peter loved the fact that he didn’t need to stress about coming out anymore – all the important people in his life he had already told, after telling Mr. Stark over a month ago, and with Ned at his side - along with MJ ready in the wings to berate any of their classmates for homophobic comments - he really couldn’t care less what anyone else thought about his sexuality. He loved the fact that touching Ned was not only allowed but actively encouraged and often instigated by the other boy. He loved when people told them they were an adorable couple, loved it when he got a bunch of likes on the cutesy pictures he made Ned take with him.

Peter loved that people knew he was with the best boy in all of Midtown. And he knew Ned felt the same. They both loved being _that_ couple and loved that everyone in school knew that they were _that_ couple.

Which is way the events that took place during the overnight trip for the Spring Decathlon meet took Peter by complete surprise.

He had really thought that someone who went to the Midtown School of Science and Technology would be less ridiculously stupid.

But Flash Thompson always had a way of defying expectations.

The trip started out normal enough. The competition was a two-day affair held in Buffalo, the actual meet on Thursday and the awards ceremony on Friday, so the team was ordered – by pain of death courtesy of MJ – to be at the school by 6:45 on Wednesday morning so they could begin the long ride upstate. Peter, who had managed to convince May to let him stay out an hour later on patrol to make up for Spider-Man’s three-day absence from Queens, had only gotten a few hours of sleep and was completely dead-eyed when he met up with Ned at their usual spot on the way to school.

Ned had taken one look at his boyfriend with his still-mused hair, sleepy eyes, rumpled clothes, and hastily packed bag and laughed. Peter, too tired to come up with an actual response, just scrunched up his nose at him before placing a chaste kiss on his cheek and grabbing his hand.

“Late patrol?” Ned asked, sounding way too cheerful to Peter’s oversensitive ears, as they began the walk to the school.

“I was back by midnight.” Peter responded, trying and failing to suppress a yawn. “But I hadn’t packed anything and I needed to go over some of the notes MJ assigned us, so I didn’t actually go to sleep until a little after 3.” His eyes itched just thinking about it and he resisted the urge to rub them with his free hand. He had gotten used to the 11 pm Spider-Man curfew May had imposed and it had been awhile since he had lacked so much sleep.

“You actually studied those?” Ned asked, shooting a sympathetic look at Peter as they passed Delmar’s.

“Of course I did. _MJ_ gave them to us. And since I missed last Friday’s practice, I’m already on her list.” Peter responded. “Did you not?” Peter himself couldn’t imagine not looking at anything MJ gave them. Ned just shrugged in response.

“I mean, I looked at them. But she said last week that the notes weren’t as important as the binders Mr. Harrington gave us and not to worry about them if we couldn’t get to them.”

“When did she say that?” Peter demanded, unable to keep some grumpiness out of his tone.

“I think it was – oh.” Ned’s tone turned sheepish. “It was on Friday. She told me to tell you and I forgot. I’m sorry.”

“Dude!” Peter grumbled at him as they rounded a corner and the school came into sight.

“I’m really sorry!” Ned responded earnestly, giving Peter’s hand a squeeze as they made their way to a bus parked in front of the school. Sally and Charles, two of their teammates, were already standing by the bus and they waved as the boys approached. Peter grumbled more at Ned as they came to a stop by the school bus but he leaned into the other boy anyway and laid his head on his shoulder.

“I don’t like you today.” He mumbled without bite as he closed his eyes and felt Ned wrap an arm around his waist.

“I can make it up to you?” Ned spoke quietly as Peter burrowed his head into the crook of Ned’s neck. There was a playfulness in his tone that would have normally turned Peter red but he was too tired for his body to summon the effort it took to be flustered. “I’ll give you a piggyback ride.” Ned offered. Peter immediately perked up. He _loved_ piggyback rides.

“Yes.” He told his boyfriend as he stepped away and out of Ned’s loose embrace. Ned grinned at him and turned around so Peter could climb onto his back, casually slipping his backpack from his shoulders and onto the ground. Peter jumped up, wrapping his arms loosely around Ned’s neck and placing his legs around his hips. Ned’s hands went up to secure Peter as he immediately snuggled his face back into Ned’s shoulder and closed his eyes again.

“You guys are ridiculous.” Sally spoke out, but there was an amused fondness in her voice so Peter just waved a lazy hand at her without looking up, content to stay comfortably held on Ned’s back.

“He’s tired, Sally. What kind of guy would I be if I didn’t help him?” Peter heard Ned respond, smiling slightly at the way Ned’s throat vibrated as he spoke, tickling his cheek.

“Is a _piggyback_ ride really the way to help him?” Sally replied, sounding even more amused.

“He likes them. And I like holding him. It’s a win-win situation.” Ned responded, shifting slightly so Peter’s weight was more comfortably distributed on his back. Peter allowed himself to be jostled, content to cling lightly to Ned.

“He’s comfy.” Peter added, voice muffled as he hadn’t bothered to lift his head. He heard Sally and Charles both laugh at that but Sally seemed content to drop the conversation. Peter and Ned had been very tactile friends before they began dating and Peter being carried around by the other boy had not been an uncommon enough sight to warrant much attention, although the cuddling into Ned’s neck was new. Peter was content to curl into Ned’s back and half listen to the new conversation Charles had struck up with the other two about some new sci-fi tv show, taking comfort in Ned’s warmth and the feeling of his hands under Peter’s thighs, holding him securely. His eyes were closed and the voices of the others were blurring together into a fuzzy buzzing that lulled Peter into a soft doze.

“Is Peter asleep?” A new voice rang out, jarring Peter back to full wakefulness. He lifted his head up just enough to see that MJ had joined their small group and was currently staring at Ned and Peter with an impassive expression. He considered responding, decided it was too much work, and dropped his head back down, grumbling a little bit at the disturbance. He felt Ned laugh at his reaction, the soft rumbles of his body jostling Peter slightly and he briefly tightened his legs in retaliation.

“I think he was dozing before you came over,” He heard Ned reply to MJ. He briefly considered lifting his head and actually engaging in the conversation – it was about _him_ after all – but he was tired and Ned was cozy and it was simply too much effort.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a grumpy Peter Parker.” MJ observed. Her voice was, as usual, completely neutral, bordering on bored, but Peter could imagine she was amused. It was too much work to lift his head and stick his tongue out at her so he just grumbled more and turned his head to cuddle into Ned’s neck, earning a brief shiver from the boy as he accidently tickled him. Peter considered it revenge.

“He had a late night studying the notes you gave us all.” Ned told MJ. “So he’s really tired.”

“I said not to stress about those notes.” MJ responded and although Peter couldn’t see her, he could imagine her perfectly cocked eyebrow as she stared Ned down.

“I forgot to tell him, so he’s grumpy. The piggyback ride is to make up for it.” Ned said, matter-of-factly. It made perfectly logical sense to Peter, but evidently it was confusing to the people around them judging from the reactions he could hear.

“ _That’s_ why?” He heard Charles ask as Sally let out a short, surprised laugh.

“Is this always how you solve your fights?” MJ asked and this time Peter could hear a bit of amused interest in her voice.

“It’s not a fight. And not always. Sometimes we cuddle instead. And Peter gives me little presents if he messes up. Last week he forgot to call me when he got home from the Stark Internship so that we could go to the movies, so he brought me a mini-me out of Legos that he made at the store to make up for it.” Ned shrugged as he spoke and Peter lightly shifted to stay in position, still not bothering to move away.

“You guys are _ridiculous_.” He heard Sally speak, repeating her earlier words. Peter disagreed – it made perfect sense to him, but it was too much effort to put up any fight about it. He didn’t need to explain any aspect of his and Ned’s relationship, anyway.

“I believe the word you are looking for is actually _adorable_.” Ned responded and Peter could hear the smug content in his tone. It was deserved too – in Peter’s completely unbiased opinion they were adorable.

“No, I’m pretty sure the word is ridiculous.” MJ chimed in and Peter could just imagine the soft smirk on her face. He huffed in response, drawing another shiver from Ned as his breath tickled him, but still didn’t bother lifting his head to speak up. It certainly wasn’t her fault that he had stayed up later than he needed to, but he could still blame whoever he chose. And there was no way MJ would agree to giving him a ride on her back like Ned did, so he could be annoyed at her without any guilt. “Are you really just gonna stay on Ned’s back and ignore us, Peter?” MJ asked him, the smirk still evident in her voice.

“Yep.” Peter retorted, clinging a little tighter to Ned as the other boy laughed. MJ probably rolled her eyes at that but she seemed content to drop the topic and leave Peter to his snuggling. The conversation shifted to the upcoming competition and Peter paid just enough attention to notice that Sally was feeling a little nervous since Flash had nearly beaten her out for the regular spot in a practice meet – physics had never quite been her strong suit and it was the one topic Flash was actually more than decent at – and made a note to offer studying help to her later before succumbing to his exhaustion and dozing off once more.

In what felt like a second later, Mr. Harrington’s voice was loudly calling out to all of them and Peter jerked his head up, instinctually perking at the sound of a teacher’s voice. The rest of the team had all arrived while he had been dozing – how he had missed Flash’s appearance he didn’t know because the boy was loudly complaining about being an alternate again even as Mr. Harrington tried to get their attention as he jogged over to them, bus driver in tow.

“Good morning everyone! Sorry I’m running a tidbit late but we had to fill out some extra paperwork this morning. Got to ensure your safety and all that, after DC.” Mr. Harrington briefly looked uncomfortable at his mention of their last disastrous trip and Peter shifted slightly, feeling a shot of guilt run through him. Ned briefly squeezed the back of his leg in comfort and Peter relaxed somewhat. Ned was the only one on the team that knew what had caused the explosion and he had never blamed Peter for what happened. “But it’s fine! Everything will go absolutely spectacularly this time! Now Mr. Emmerson, if you please, open the bus and we can all load up and have an awesome trip!” Peter had to hand it to Mr. Harrington – he always bounced back.

Peter watched as the first few people got on to the bus before reluctantly jumping down from Ned’s back so they could do the same. He would have just stayed on his back but he knew from experience that Mr. Harrington would have lectured them about the risks of Peter bumping his head on the roof of the bus if he had and he was not feeling up to that. So he climbed down, looped his fingers through Ned’s and followed the shorter boy onto the bus.

Ned, much to Peter’s pleasure, made his way all the way to the back of the bus and slid into the last seat, pushing his backpack between his legs. Peter slipped in next to him and immediately rested his head onto the other boy’s shoulder, barely containing a wide yawn. Ned dropped his head so that it was resting on Peter’s and wrapped an arm around his waist to pull him closer.

“You really _are_ tired.” Ned whispered to him, an amused fondness in his voice, as the rest of the team filed into their own seats. Peter yawned again in response before turning slightly to curl further into him, raising his arms so they laid against Ned’s chest. He felt the bus vibrate underneath his feet as Mr. Emmerson began to smoothly glide out from the curb and he allowed the soft rumble of the engine to lull him back into an almost doze, feeling safe inside Ned’s warm embrace.

“I’m just gonna rest for a bit,” he mumbled into Ned’s chest. “Just a few minutes.” He added, trying to put some insistence into his drowsy, quiet tone. MJ would not be happy if he slept through the entire review she had planned for the drive. He was pretty sure Ned had responded but the words were lost as he allowed himself to fall asleep for a few blessed minutes.

Peter didn’t wake until Mr. Emmerson was pulling the bus into the hotel parking lot, four and a half hours later. He came to slowly, at first, basking in the warm softness he was resting against. For a moment, he imagined he was waking from a nap from the couch, Ned wrapped around him. Then, with a sudden realization of pure horror, he remembered where he was and what he was supposed to have been doing for the past who knows how long and he jolted up, startling Ned from his own nap.

“Wha-” Ned’s voice was thick with sleep and confusion as Peter pulled away from him. “What’s wrong?” Ned managed to ask, voice a little clearer as he sat up fully and took in the frantic look in Peter’s eyes.

“We were supposed to study!” Peter hissed, looking over the tall bus seat to see the other students. Abe and Cindy were curled into each other in the seat in front of them, eyes glued on a tablet in Abe’s hands. Sally was across from them and was in the process of shoving a book back into her backpack, obviously getting ready to leave the bus. Charles and Flash had sat towards the front of the bus and Peter could only make out their heads, but neither seemed to be doing much. MJ was sitting in the very front across from Mr. Harrington and both were engrossed in a conversation about how check-in at the hotel was going to go.

Not a single person on the bus seemed to be studying but that didn’t calm Peter’s sudden bout of guilty nerves. He must have missed the entire review session – not surprising as it was clear that he had slept for the _entirety_ of the trip – and he felt awful about it. He had been determined to make up for Nationals and instead he had slept through the entire review. He was a truly terrible team member.

“Peter, Peter. It’s _fine_.” Peter felt Ned place a hand on the small of his back but he refused to allow himself to relax into it, instead choosing to turn and stare accusingly at his boyfriend.

“I was only supposed to rest for a _few_ minutes. Not the _entire_ trip! I missed the whole review!” He knew it wasn’t really Ned’s fault – the other boy had probably thought Peter needed the sleep more than the review and he couldn’t really blame Ned for caring about him – but he was annoyed at himself and couldn’t quite keep the angry bite from his voice. Ned, used to years of Peter, was hardly fazed. He gently rubbed circles into Peter’s back in a calming gesture as Mr. Emmerson pulled the bus into a long parking spot reserved for buses.

“The review only lasted for the first hour and it was all from MJ’s notes since no one else had studied them except MJ and you. You missed nothing – I would have woken you up if you had.” Peter knew that was probably true. And if Ned hadn’t, MJ absolutely would’ve had it been something she felt was important. “It’s fine, dude.” Ned added and Peter finally nodded, allowing himself to relax slightly and unclench his hands that had curled into fists on his lap.

“Alright. But you’re helping me go over some notes after check in.” He told the other boy, unwilling to completely forgo all review, as they stood to make their way out of the bus after all the others.

“Of course.” Ned easily agreed, following Peter closely as the entire team filed out of the bus.

“Okay, kids.” Mr. Harrington began as the team all made a half-circle around him. “We’re going to go into the lobby together and I want you all to stay together while me and MJ go and get the keys for the hotel rooms.” Mr. Harrington was careful to emphasize his words and Peter couldn’t blame him after all that had happened at their last trip. The students all dutifully nodded at their teacher’s words and they headed towards the hotel as a group. They were all chatting lightly, saying nothing of any particular importance.

Peter tuned out the words of the students around him with a practiced ease – it was a necessary skill he had acquired after his heightened abilities had kicked in – and dug his phone out of his pocket. He had promised both May and Mr. Stark that he would text them the moment the team arrived in Buffalo and, although he felt a bit as a child, he typed a quick message to both of them that he had reached the hotel safely before slipping the phone back into his pocket. As the group made their way into the lobby, Peter had to admit that, even with how anxious as he had been to miss the review session, he felt a lot better after a few more hours of sleep and a lot less dead to the world. He would have to thank Ned for letting him sleep on him for over four hours – it had probably not been as pleasant of a position for him as it had been for Peter.

Mr. Harrington and MJ left the small team in one corner of the lobby with strict – or as strict as Mr. Harrington could ever be – instructions not to separate from each other. Peter decided to not take the pointed look MJ shot in his direction personally. The entire team knew Peter was the most likely to randomly disappear at some point and he couldn’t blame MJ for her distrust. He wasn’t planning on ditching the team this time around, of course, but she didn’t know that for sure and he couldn’t fault her for that.

The moment Mr. Harrington was out of earshot and busy speaking to a well dressed middle-aged woman at the front desk, Flash rounded on Peter, an easy smirk in place. Peter wanted to groan in annoyance but he kept his face as neutral as possible for a boy who wore his heart on his sleeve.

“Hear what Mr. Harrington said, Penis?” Peter felt Ned tense beside him at the use of the old, petty nickname and he was quick to wrap his fingers loosely into Ned’s sweater sleeve to prevent his boyfriend from doing anything rash. Peter loved how defensive Ned could get on his behalf but he also knew Flash was just taunting him because he was mad at still being alternate and whatever Ned said would only egg him on and make the entire altercation worse. “It’s a shame he even let you stay on the team after Nationals. I’d be a way better regular anyway. At least _I_ actually care enough to make it to practice.”

That actually stung a little bit, although Peter was careful to keep his face neutral. He did care a lot about the Decathlon team and he’d been trying very hard to keep up with it along with his Spider-Man patrols and his intern work with Mr. Stark. Last Friday had been the only practice he had missed all semester and it hadn’t even really been because of Spider-Man or Avengers work. May had let it slip to Mr. Stark that Peter hadn’t had any doctor or dentist check-ups since being bitten and Mr. Stark had immediately flown in several discreet practitioners and ordered Peter to meet him at the Compound. He hadn’t even lied when he told MJ he had a doctor’s appointment to go to. It really wasn’t fair for Flash to be throwing that in his face now, but that was Flash. He had always been a jerk to Peter and that wasn’t going to change even if Peter managed to make it to all the practices and meets.

“You can take that up with Mr. Harrington.” Peter told him in a carefully calm voice, refusing to let Flash get a rise out of him. It was never worth the fight – Flash would just get more and more mean and Peter would get angry but not be able to do anything about it because words had hardly ever stopped Flash before and he refused to get physically violent with the other boy just because he was a bully.

Ned, bless his sweet heart, didn’t agree, and Peter had to tug on his sweater sleeve rather ungently as the other boy stepped towards Flash. His boyfriend shot him an annoyed glance but acquiesced and stepped back to be next to Peter again. Peter couldn’t stop him from glaring at Flash however, nor could he stop Flash from noticing the exchange that had passed between them.

“Gotta have your _bestie_ fight your battles now, Penis?” Flash taunted, emphasizing his words in a way that made Peter cold all over and Ned tense up besides him. Peter was no stranger to homophobic comments – he may have been born and raised in one of the most liberal places in the United States but close-minded people were everywhere and he had seen Ned struggle for years against cruel classmates. He had also seen some of the less kind expressions people had when they saw Ned and Peter walking down the street holding hands or standing with their arms around each other for pictures.

The way Flash had enunciated ‘bestie’ though – unabashedly hinting that there was something wrong with Peter and Ned’s relationship was a new experience and Peter didn’t quite know how to respond. He’d gotten bruises defending Ned from people who spoke to him in similar ways but he’d never really dealt with it from Flash – had thought that even Flash was old enough to be beyond such assholery – and never dealt with it fully directed towards himself either. People had made derisive comments about Peter and Ned together, of course, especially when Ned had first come out, but Peter had always been able to focus his anger on the fact that they were insulting his _best friend_ , rather than that they might also have been insulting him. This felt different, though, and it stopped Peter cold.

“Oh, go screw yourself, Flash.” Ned’s voice ringing out, quiet and cold, snapped Peter back and he hastily tugged on the other boy’s sweater. His tone frightened Peter a little – Ned was almost always warm and loud and the more emotion he felt about something, the louder he tended to get, except for anger. Ned always got quiet when he was truly mad about something or at someone – it was a rare emotion for the amicable boy and Peter really didn’t know what Ned would do or say in his anger. Flash was a jerk, undoubtedly, but that didn’t mean Peter should let Ned get in trouble too, if Mr. Harrington came back and heard them fighting.

Ned did not seem at all willing to go along with Peter’s tugging anymore as he took a step forward towards Flash once more. Peter looked around, a little desperate for some backup in the situation, but all their classmates were unusually quiet as they watched the altercation unfold and none would quite meet Peter’s eyes. “Ned.” He tugged on his sweater again, but the other boy just pulled his arm away in response. They both knew that if Peter wanted to, he could keep a tight hold on the other boy and even drag him away from the situation but they both also knew Peter would never use his strength against Ned. He let the other boy’s sleeve slip from his fingers.

“I don’t know why you are such a jerk,” Ned told Flash, voice still deceptively quiet as he stood between Peter and the other boy. “But you need to stop. No one likes an asshole, Flash. And they don’t want them on their team either. Did you ever think it’s your pathetic need for validation and constant tearing down of others that keeps you an alternate?” Ned was on a roll now and even though his voice remained at the same soft volume he had started at, it was growing heated. “Peter earned his spot on this team not just because he’s smarter than you but also because he’s not a jerk all the time. And yeah, he’s too nice to tell you to fuck off every time you’re rude and I’m sure as hell not, but that doesn’t mean he needs me to fight for him. I choose to because he’s important to me and because someone needs to tell you not to be an ass all the time. So, fuck off and bother someone else.”

A rather prolonged silence followed Ned’s words and there were more than just a few wide eyes. Ned had stood up to Flash before but he had never been quite so vicious about it and most of their team had always just considered him a friendly, overly-excitable goofball. Only Peter – and occasionally Flash when Ned had said it directly to the boy without a crowd – knew that Ned could be quite cutting when he wanted to be. Repeating a rumor about someone paying a girl to be their date was one level of mean, however, and telling them point-blank to fuck off was quite another.

Even Flash, who always had a sarcastic quip on his tongue and a quick temper when provoked– was momentarily thrown by Ned’s words. Ned stared him down for a moment longer, expression shockingly cold, before stepping back to be next to Peter. Peter slid his fingers against Ned’s but didn’t lace them together. Instead, they both stared at Flash, waiting for the other boy to break the silence with some new rude comment. The silence stretched longer as Flash’s face contorted itself, slowly morphing from shock into anger – Peter just knew this wasn’t going to end well – but before he could summon anything to say, Mr. Harrington and MJ were coming up on them and he had to settle for glaring darkly at Ned while the others quickly bustled themselves into would-be casual stances. No matter whose side everyone fell on in this situation – and Peter was sure they were going to find out later – no one wanted the teacher to know what had happened.

“So, I have all the keys here.” Mr. Harrington began speaking, completely oblivious to the tense silence around his students. Peter had never been more grateful for his teacher’s absentmindedness than he was in that moment. Hopefully he and Ned could slip away after Mr. Harrington had passed out all the keys and before Flash had time to come after them. Or anyone else for that matter – Mr. Harrington may have been blind to the situation but MJ was shooting curious looks between Peter and Flash.

“We got one room for the girls – MJ’s got one of the keys, Sally and Cindy whichever of you want to take the other?” Mr. Harrington waited until Cindy had grabbed the key from his hand before continuing. “We got two rooms for the boys. Abe, Charles, and Fl-uh,” Mr. Harrington looked momentarily embarrassed as MJ conspicuously cleared her throat and nodded silently towards Peter and Ned. Peter flushed immediately as a few of his classmates giggled around him – he’d expected, of course, that Ned and he would not be allowed to share a room as they had done in the past – but he hadn’t realized how mortifying it would be to have oblivious Mr. Harrington need to be reminded in the middle of giving out room keys. He also hadn’t expected Ned and Flash to get into an actual _fight_ – Peter was just hoping Mr. Harrington would put Ned into the room with the other two boys and leave Peter to Flash.

He was a little worried that Ned or Flash wouldn’t make it out from the room intact if they were forced to share.

He was honestly a little more worried that Flash wouldn’t come out.

He was actually a lot worried for Flash. Ned was secretly terrifying.

Peter would think about why that made him feel uncomfortably warm later. “Ahem,” Mr. Harrington awkwardly cleared out his throat,

“Abe, Charles, and uh- Peter will be sharing one room. Flash and Ned will get the third.” Peter’s heart dropped and he immediately grabbed at Ned’s hand, hoping beyond hope that Ned would get the message he was trying to convey with his fingers. A quick glance at Ned’s still icy expression withered that hope and Peter barely held back a groan. He was too young to help hide a body.

He was tempted to ask Mr. Harrington to change the rooms and switch him with Ned but he knew that would arouse too many questions. After all, Flash’s animosity towards Peter was no secret, even to the incredibly blind Mr. Harrington and Peter didn’t want to do anything that would get Ned in trouble.

Luckily for him, Flash had no such concerns. His hand was raised nearly immediately and he began speaking without prompt. “Why do I have to share a room with Ned? Why can’t he and Parker share like usual?” Peter had never thought he’d be glad to hear Flash’s demanding voice. He knew Mr. Harrington would not allow Peter and Ned to share a room alone together – it was undoubtedly against all sorts of school rules – but maybe at Flash’s insistence he would switch someone around. Surely Peter and Ned could triple up in a room with someone that wasn’t Flash. Perhaps they would all actually survive the weekend unscathed.

“Because those are the rooms I and MJ arranged for you all.” Mr. Harrington’s voice was surprisingly firm as he dashed out Peter’s last hope. At least he had enough sense not to draw any more attention as to why Peter and Ned weren’t allowed to share a room – the entire team knowing they were dating was one thing and having a teacher announce that he was concerned about what they would do in a room together was quite another. “Here are your keys. Abe and Peter, you can each take one. Flash and Ned, there’s one for both of you.”

Peter tried hard not to seem too eager as he snatched the key card from Mr. Harrington’s hand and immediately began dragging Ned off down the hall to find his room, barely remembering to grab his own backpack as they went. He knew it had probably seemed strange – Mr. Harrington hadn’t even dismissed them yet – but he also knew that he was absolutely Mr. Harrington’s favorite and the man wouldn’t lecture them too hard when they met for dinner.

Abe and Charles had enough sense not to follow them and although Peter felt a little guilty to keep them from their own space, he hastily pushed it aside as found the room and swiftly unlocked it before unceremoniously throwing himself inside it. He waited just long enough for Ned to close the door behind him before he was rounding on the other boy.

“What the _hell_?” Peter tried very hard to keep his arms from folding across his chest. That’s what May did sometimes when she was angry and he very much did not want to look like his aunt when confronting his boyfriend. “Dude, seriously, what the hell?” He couldn’t help but repeat himself, failing to keep his voice from rising. “What the hell, what the hell, what the freaking hell-” He knew his voice was becoming loud enough that it would disturb the guests around them but Peter couldn’t summon enough energy to care. He was angry – beyond angry, really.

He had never truly been angry at Ned before and he had to admit that he hated the feeling. He wasn’t even sure _why_ he was angry at the other boy. But he was, and it was an ugly, vicious warmth that settled heavily on his stomach. “What were you _thinking_? Flash is going to be _pissed_ and now you have to share a room with him. What if he does something? What if you guys get into a fight and he _hurts_ you? Or you hurt him and get in serious trouble with Mr. Harrington! You could end up _suspended_! What the _hell_?” Peter was waving his arms wildly as he spoke, his loud words very nearly a scream.

It would have been an interesting point to focus on, had he been able to focus on anything but the ugly anger that was crouching low in his chest; Ned may have grown quiet in anger but Peter was the total opposite – he got _very_ loud. But Peter wasn’t focusing on that at all – he was hardly focusing on anything but how shockingly angry he had grown at the situation.

“Peter. Calm down.” Ned raised his hands as if to grab Peter’s own flailing ones but Peter took a step back. He didn’t want to be touched or comforted at the moment – he wanted to stay angry until Ned realized how _stupid_ he had been to aggravate Flash. They both knew Flash was someone who would not back down – the whole situation had gotten out of hand and it was going to be so much worse when Ned was forced to be alone with the other boy.

“Don’t tell me to calm down!” Peter flailed his hands again for good measure. He knew he was being ridiculous but could hardly bring himself to care. “Flash is always being an asshole! You didn’t have to embarrass him in front of the _whole_ team! He’s going to get back at you now and it’s going to be so much worse! Why di-“

“Don’t ask me why, Peter. You’re not stupid.” Ned’s voice was quiet, but not with anger. There was a steady calmness in his tone that only showed when Peter was in one of his most stubborn moods and needed someone to talk him down. Peter was momentarily cowed by it and Ned took a step closer but didn’t try to reach for Peter again. He knew Peter well enough to know when the boy needed touch and when he needed space. “I’m not going to stand around and let Flash talk to you like that.” Peter was tempted to point out that Flash talked badly to Peter all the time but both boys knew that it wasn’t just the rude nature of Flash that Ned was pointing out but the nasty way he had hinted at their relationship.

“If he wants to do something more, then let him.” Ned continued when Peter kept silent. “I’m not going to back down from someone treating you like that and you shouldn’t ask me to. Especially when we both know how it would have been had the situation been reversed.” Peter’s anger deflated then, acknowledging the truth in Ned’s statement. Peter maybe wouldn’t have been quite as colorful in his words, but he would have been just as vocal and had been in the past, when someone had crossed the line with Ned. It was hypocritical for him to be angry for something that he himself would not have hesitated to do.

“I’m sorry I yelled at you,” his voice was barely more than a whisper but Ned still heard him.

“It’s alright.” He responded but Peter knew it wasn’t. Yelling wasn’t going to change anything that had just happened and it only worked to make Ned feel worse about doing something he thought was right.

“It’s not. And I’m sorry. I just don’t-” Peter had to pause to find the words that best reflected the tumultuous emotions simmering inside him. “I don’t want Flash to have a reason to hurt you,” He settled on, looking down at his hands. He didn’t think he could face Ned right now.

“The only way Flash could really hurt me was if he brought his football friend to Buffalo with him and there’s no way that guy could fit in his suitcase.” Ned’s voice was filled with a surety that managed to somewhat soothe Peter’s raw nerves and startled a weak chuckle from him. The sound must have emboldened Ned because right after it had escaped Peter’s mouth, Ned was stepping forward and wrapping Peter into a warm embrace.

Peter didn’t step back or fight Ned’s touch this time – instead he wrapped his arms around Ned’s neck and melted into the comforting hug. They stayed like that for a long moment until Peter couldn’t help but break the silence with a burning question.

“Should I give you a piggyback ride to make up for our fight?”

Ned laughed. Peter grinned.

“We should probably let Charles and Abe know they can come in.” Peter said after his boyfriend’s laughter had dispersed. He could easily have texted them that the coast was clear, but that involved disentangling himself from Ned and he couldn’t quite bring himself to leave the comforting warmth.

“We could.” Ned acknowledged. “Or we could not say anything and keep the room to ourselves for a bit.” Peter couldn’t help but flush a little at Ned’s suggestive tone. Ned’s hand – which had just a moment before been lying flat and innocent in the small of Peter’s back – tracing feather light circles on Peter’s back certainly didn’t help anything. Peter didn’t think he’d ever quite get used to the thrill of Ned flirting with him – or the thrill of knowing that Ned wanted to touch him as much as Peter wanted to touch Ned – and he wasn’t sure he would ever want to. He liked the excited whooshing feeling that ran through his body whenever Ned got like this – although turning pink every time was definitely something he could live without.

“We shouldn’t.” Peter responded, trying valiantly to be the responsible one. He didn’t leave Ned’s arms though, nor did he try and move away when Ned’s trailing fingers managed to slip under his shirt to trace along the soft strip of bare skin just above the waistband of his jeans. “Mr. Harrington’ll get mad. He probably already thinks we’re being inappropriate.” Peter tried. Ned’s face was startlingly close to his own now as the slightly shorter boy tilted his head up at him. He was perfect kissing height, really.

“If we’re going to get in trouble,” He started, a soft, teasing smile stretching his lips. “Might as well be for something we actually did.” Peter had to admit it Ned had a fairly solid point. “Besides,” Ned moved his head even closer into Peter, so that his words tickled across the other boy’s lips in a way that sent rolling shivers down his back, “Who knows what Flash’s going to do to me later. Might be our last chance.” Ned’s words should’ve brought Peter’s unease roaring back but it was hard to concentrate on anything beyond the feeling of the other boy pressed softly against him.

Peter was fairly certain that if Ned had tried this earlier, Peter’s anger would have faded even quicker than it had. It was an unfair advantage that the other boy held over him.

“Better make it count, then.” Peter murmured playfully, momentarily enjoying the spark of surprise that flashed through Ned’s eyes before pressing his lips firmly against the other boy’s. It was fairly obvious that Ned hadn’t expected Peter to go through with his suggestion.

It was nice to be the one with the upper hand every once in a while.

The kiss lasted far longer than was strictly appropriate at a school function but much too short for the two boys. Peter’s fingers had just threaded themselves into the soft tresses of hair curling at the nape of Ned’s neck when a loud, intrusive knock reverberated around the hotel room.

“Hey losers! Put your clothes back on and let me in!” MJ’s voice, neutral but loud, rang out from the other side of the door as the boys hastily pulled away from each other.

“We could tell her to come back later.” Ned suggested, voice low and thick. He hadn’t yet dropped his hands from Peter’s waist.

“She’d just pick the lock.” Peter replied, reluctantly taking a step back and out of Ned’s arms. The other boy shot an annoyed glare at the door as Peter quickly walked over to it and opened it before MJ could knock again.

“About time.” The girl huffed before immediately stalking into the room. Peter could hear the slightly amused tone in her voice, though, so he just rolled his eyes and shut the door behind her.

“Can we help you with anything?” Ned asked, hardly bothering to keep the annoyed tone from his voice. “We were busy.” Peter couldn’t help the heat that rose to his cheeks at Ned’s words. There was no reason to advertise what had been happening in the room before MJ had knocked.

“We were just about to study.” He added hastily, shooting a look at Ned from across MJ’s shoulder. Ned _had_ promised to review with Peter anyway, so it wasn’t technically a lie. An exaggeration maybe, but not an outright lie.

“Anatomy isn’t a topic this year, Peter.” MJ deadpanned as she plopped down on one of the two empty beds. Peter’s flush darkened but Ned grinned, amused despite his annoyance. “But we have more important things to talk about then you guys acting like a teenage cliché and hooking up during a school trip.” Peter’s cheeks were never going to be their normal color again. “What happened with Flash?” MJ was always good at getting straight to the point. Peter’s gaze shifted to Ned. The other boy’s smile was gone now and he was fidgeting slightly with the hem of his shirt. “Cindy told me something went down but said I had to get the details from you guys because she didn’t feel like it was her place to tell me, so don’t even bother lying.” MJ added when neither boy offered any information.

“It was just the usual. Flash said something rude, Ned responded.” Peter answered slowly, already knowing MJ wasn’t going to accept that as an answer.

“Flash is currently freaking out on Mr. Harrington about how he can’t possibly share a room with Ned and everyone else is being suspiciously quiet about what was said, which has never happened. There’s no way it was “just the usual”.” MJ’s hand popped up on her hip as she spoke and Peter shot another, more pointed glance at Ned. His own anger may have disappeared but there was no way he was jumping in front of an angry MJ for his boyfriend. A bullet, perhaps. But certainly not MJ.

“Flash said something kinda homophobic about me and Peter to Peter and I told him to fuck off.” Ned finally admitted, still twisting the hem of his shirt between two fingers. MJ’s eyes narrowed and she turned back to Peter.

“What did he say?” She demanded. “You know Midtown is a zero-policy school – I can have him off the team in ten seconds flat if he said something bad enough.” Peter had always appreciated MJ’s fierce protection of her beliefs, but he knew that the last thing that would help the situation was MJ getting involved as team captain. Flash would never let it go if Peter and Ned got him kicked off the Academic Decathlon team.

“That’s not necessary,” Peter was perhaps too quick in his response but he also knew Ned would probably agree with MJ if he didn’t get in fast enough. “It wasn’t a nice comment but it wasn’t that bad either – I don’t think it was blatant enough to get Flash off the team and he’d just be a bigger asshole if that happened anyway. It’s best to just drop it entirely.” Judging by MJ and Ned’s identically skeptical expressions, Peter was pretty sure his words convinced no one. But he also knew neither would go against him in this situation if he was adamant enough, so he just stared determinedly back at them until they backed down.

MJ, surprisingly, was the first to acquiesce. “Alright, but if I catch him saying anything homophobic or hear that he was making shitty comments from someone else, I’m taking it straight to Mr. Harrington. That’s completely unacceptable behavior.” Peter let a momentary feeling of relief rush through him before turning to his boyfriend. Ned didn’t look all too willing to agree with Peter and MJ but Peter gave him his widest, most innocently pleading expression that he could muster – the one that got him out of trouble with May 75% of the time and Mr. Stark 90%. Ned caved nearly instantaneously.

“Fine. But if he says anything to me in our room, I’m punching him.” Peter scrunched his face up but reluctantly nodded. He could hardly blame Ned for wanting to punch Flash.

“Do they have to share a room?” He asked MJ, hoping beyond hope that she could use her position as captain to work something else out with Mr. Harrington. MJ was quick to dash his hopes with a shake of her head.

“Not unless I asked Mr. Harrington if he would switch Ned with you and I’m not doing that. Ned is at least willing to smack Flash back into his place. You’d just let him say asshole things.” Harsh, but true. Peter worked very hard to never raise his hand to Flash – he could seriously hurt the boy after all and that risk wasn’t worth the temporary satisfaction it would bring him.

“Could me and Ned share a room with one of the other guys?” Peter tried. MJ raised an eyebrow.

“No way would that fly. You guys aren’t even sharing a room now and you already managed to be alone together – which is technically not against school policy because it was all written by white, straight men but already has Mr. Harrington freaking out. He would never approve you guys sharing a room, even if all the other boys were in it with you.” Peter grimaced. He really didn’t want Flash and Ned sharing a room – he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was going to go terribly wrong.

“It’ll be fine, Peter.” Ned tried to reassure him with a small smile. But Peter wasn’t stupid – he knew Ned was still incredibly angry at Flash, even if he was putting on a happy face for Peter, and would be all too willing to provoke Flash if it meant he could justifiably take a swing at him.

Peter just knew this trip was going to end in a complete, unmitigated disaster.


	2. Chapter 2

                The rest of the day passed surprisingly well for Peter. Charles and Abe had joined him, MJ, and Ned in the hotel room once they had been given the clear with only a few knowing looks at the two boys, and they spent a few hours reviewing for the meet – at Peter’s insistence – before calling it quits and turning towards various relaxing activities. Peter would have honestly loved to continue studying – reviewing the test questions Mr. Harrington had given them was a great way to avoid thinking about Flash – but Abe had threatened a mutiny if they didn’t put an end to what he termed “incessant and needless sadistic work” and MJ had easily given in.

                Abe had disappeared pretty quickly after that – Peter was pretty sure he had gone to find some corner of the hotel with Cindy but after his and Ned’s brief takeover of their shared room he had no room to judge anyone – and Charles had also made his exit, citing a nearby smoothie place he and Sally were going to try. That had left MJ and Ned with him, an arrangement Peter was more than happy with. It had been awhile since the three of them actually had time to hang out all together without the threat of uncompleted schoolwork hanging over them and it was a decent enough distraction from the looming disaster that was Flash Thompson.

                It was a mostly decent enough distraction, anyway. Peter was only thinking about it every so often.

                Or every few minutes, if someone was keeping track.

                Which Peter wasn’t, of course.

                Currently, he was leaning against Ned at the top of one of the queen beds while MJ lay at the foot of it, staring up at them through keen eyes. She and Ned were engaged in a rather heated discussion about a book series they both read and although Peter didn’t have much to add to the conversation – Spider-Man activities plus a class schedule of nearly all AP or Honors classes did not lend much time for leisure reading – he did enjoy the way MJ’s face lit up at a challenge and the way Ned’s hands lightly jostled him every time the other boy threw them up to enunciate a point.

                “It doesn’t matter if his mother abused him or not, he was still a sadistic megalomaniac and he got what he deserved!” MJ was saying, her face scrunched in an expression of disgust. Peter was tempted to ask what the hell kind of book the two of them had been reading because it sounded horribly tragic but he also knew that would only get him an hours long recap of the storyline from Ned that would leave him even more confused so he tamped the desire down. Sometimes it was better not to ask.

                “I’m not saying he didn’t deserve it. He was a _garbage_ person. All I’m saying is that he was a sympathetic character and I wish there could have been some sort of redemption for him before he was killed off!”  Ned rebuked, a playful heat in his voice that came around whenever he got really into a debate. It was an endearing quality to Peter, but it would have been more appreciated had he known what they were talking about. But since he didn’t want to ask about the book or make them change topics when they were both obviously into the conversation, he fished his phone out of his pocket to entertain himself as he leaned into Ned’s chest.

                Instagram, as usual, was the first app Peter opened. His feed mostly consisted of various celebrity accounts, Star Wars fan accounts, classmates, and – although he would deny it until he was blue in the face – several Spider-Man fan accounts. He had briefly considered making his own Spider-Man account but the idea had been quickly vetoed by Mr. Stark when he had brought it up to him and May had seconded the veto when Peter had appealed to her. He didn’t know why they thought it was such a bad idea – he _wasn’t_ stupid enough to accidentally post to the wrong account, no matter what his aunt and mentor thought – but May had threatened to take away his phone if he went through with it so he settled for secretly following some of the most popular Spider-Man accounts.

                The first post on his feed was a video of Spider-Man helping an older woman across the street. Peter wouldn’t have thought much about the video and probably would’ve just scrolled passed it– helping old ladies and men across the street or to the Subway was a regular occurrence during his patrols and the moments made their way to the internet almost daily (Mr. Stark had once shown him that he had all the videos saved to a folder labeled “Boy Scout”, which had been a particularly poignant moment of embarrassment), but he remembered this particular incident – it had happened last week -  vividly as being very different from his usual encounters so he clicked the video.

                The clip started out as they all do – Peter, in full costume, was on the far left of the screen, being handed bags by a tiny Hispanic woman who barely reached his chin. Peter had kept the video on mute– he really didn’t need MJ or Ned to realize he was watching Spider-Man videos – but he had seen enough of the videos to know that the videographer was probably narrating the entire scene in an excited or disbelieving tone as Peter and the older woman began to make their way across the bustling street along with a crowd of other pedestrians.

                Peter had been keeping pace with the small woman as she shuffled along slowly, so they had fallen behind the rest of the group by a good few feet. Normally, that wasn’t an issue but, in this case, there had been a very impatient taxi driver who had taken offense to their slow movement and had laid down the horn, hard. Peter couldn’t hear the horn from the muted video but he knew the exact moment it had blared as the poor woman beside him had jumped quite a bit before clutching hard onto his arm.

                This was the moment Peter remembered vividly – he had been angry on behalf of the woman who was shaking slightly beside him, obviously startled and uncomfortable by the blaring noise. She had told him when he had first started helping her that she was new to the city – her daughter and son-in-law had paid for her to move into their apartment from her old home in southern Texas – and she wasn’t used to the aggressive noise of Queens. So Peter had been angry, and in true New York fashion, he had let the taxi driver have it. In loud tones.

                Spider-Man yelling was hardly an uncommon sight around Queens – he was pretty well known for having a loud mouth and quite a few sarcastic quips – and that hadn’t been what made the incident memorable to Peter. What had was the taxi driver angrily revving up his engine as if he was about to run the light straight into Peter and the poor woman besides him. Peter had responded by banging his free hand – the other was still holding onto the woman’s groceries - on the hood of the taxi in warning before quickly escorting his charge onto the other side of the road. He could see rather clearly in the video that he had left a rather sizable dent on the taxi driver’s hood and he winced slightly as the video ended.

                It’s not that he felt guilt about damaging the man’s car – the guy had been a jerk and it wasn’t like he had hurt the man himself– but he didn’t like when videos of Spider-Man losing his temper made their way online. It wasn’t the image he was trying to project when he went out in the suit – wasn’t an image that screamed that he was there to protect people and make his neighborhood a safer place. It was the kind of image that people who hated him would use to project the idea that Spider-Man was dangerous and violent. He just knew, even if it hadn’t been the intention of the original poster, that this video would make its way onto the website for the Daily Bugle with an essay long rant about the dangerous nature of vigilantes in general and of Spider-Man in particular.

                Peter should’ve just scrolled passed it – there was plenty of other things he could look at, most likely including other more positive Spider-Man moments captured on film – but he couldn’t help himself and he clicked to expand the comments, knowing that he was most likely going to regret it. The first thing was the expanded version of the caption the poster had provided, which Peter had hardly glanced at before, which consisted of a generic sentence about seeing Spider-Man followed by a truly unnecessary number of hashtags that Peter didn’t bother reading through, choosing to scroll past to reach the actual comments instead.

                Most were positive – quite a few were proudly declaring that Spider-Man was a true New Yorker, while others were joking about what state the driver must have been in after that encounter. A few were commenting on the idiocy or jerkiness of the driver and a few more were sympathetic to the woman he had been helping. Overall, they were positive messages in support of him and his work and Peter should’ve just focused on those and left the comments while he was ahead. But he was Peter and that was something he just didn’t do. So he stayed until he reached the first negative comment and then another, and then a third for good measure. They were all along the same vein – calling him dangerous and saying he overacted and should be forced to pay for the damages on the car – that last was ridiculous, he was 15 and couldn’t even afford a new screen on his cracked phone, let alone the cost of removing a fist-sized dent in some jerk’s car.

                Peter frowned at his phone, moving away from Ned to sit forward as he read the comments. He knew that they were wrong – knew that he was doing good and wasn’t dangerous – but the words still stung. He didn’t want anyone to fear Spider-Man and even though he knew the vast majority was in favor for what he did, it still troubled him that even one person was against him or felt less safe with Spider-Man on the streets.

                “Something wrong, Peter?” Peter’s name, spoken by Ned, drew him out from his thoughts. He had been tuning out Ned and MJ’s conversation as he looked on his phone but it was pretty much impossible to ignore his own name. Hastily, he placed his phone down on his lap, obscuring his screen with his own hand, and turned back to look at Ned.

                “Not at all. Why? What’s up?” Peter was awful at would-be casual, especially when he was attempting to use it on someone close to him, but that never stopped him from trying. Judging by the soft frown on Ned’s lips, it had clearly failed.

                “You got all tense after you got your phone out,” MJ’s voice pulled Peter’s attention away from his boyfriend and towards the foot of the bed, where MJ had propped herself up on one elbow. “Did Flash post something asinine?” She asked as Ned shuffled behind Peter, sitting up fully. Peter barely refrained from jumping when a comforting hand was placed on the middle of his back.

                Peter briefly considered lying – Flash often posted things online degrading his fellow classmates when he was annoyed and it would be a pretty good excuse for his own behavior. But it was also easily checked and he knew that the situation would be worse once MJ and Ned realized he was hiding something.

                “No, it wasn’t Flash. Just something I saw online.” Not a lie. Not quite the truth either but he couldn’t exactly explain why some random video about Spider-Man upset him to MJ, who still didn’t know about his extracurricular activities, at least officially. “Not a big deal, really. Go back to your conversation about – whatever series you were going on about.” He was careful to keep a hand on his phone – he wouldn’t put it past either Ned or MJ to steal his phone and check what he had been looking at. They had done it before.

                “You’re such a liar, Peter.” MJ told him, rolling her eyes as she flopped back onto the bed. “One day that is going to bite you in the ass,” she warned him, a rather darkly cheerful tone in her voice. Peter, mostly just relieved that she seemed content to let the whole thing go, decided not to take offense to it. Instead, he turned slightly towards Ned, whose hand was still securely placed on his back. The other boy was frowning at him, obviously not as willing to let the moment slide as MJ was.

                “I’ll tell you later,” Peter murmured, sliding his hand briefly onto Ned’s knee. Hopefully, Ned would forget about the whole incident and Peter wouldn’t have to admit that he was basically looking himself up online. His words seemed to appease the other boy because Ned nodded before relaxing back against the headboard of the bed. Peter had a moment of peace before Ned, obviously trying to make him feel better, moved his hand from Peter’s back to his waist and pulled him up suddenly.

                Peter laughed as he found himself sprawled against Ned’s chest. Before he could sit back up, Ned had wrapped both his arms around Peter’s waist, securing him against the other boy. They both knew Peter could break the embrace with ease if he wanted to but he had no desire to move away from Ned’s soft warmth. He had to admit, even if he didn’t want to share the rather embarrassing reason for his unease, he loved that Ned was always willing to try to make him feel better.

                “Gross.” Even if it was sometimes mistakenly done in front of their friends.

                “Shut up, MJ.” Ned responded easily even as Peter’s face erupted pink as he turned to look at the girl at the foot of the bed.

                MJ was still lying down but she had shifted herself so that she was on her side, staring up at the two boys. Despite her rather rude word, there was a soft glint in her eyes and the ghost of an amused smile on her lips which was the closest MJ ever got to admitting something was cute. “Why are you guys always like this?” She asked them bluntly. Peter’s blush darkened. He knew that if someone else had asked the question it would have come off as rude but with MJ, it was simply her brand of humor.

                “Do you really want us to answer that?” He asked her, unable to help but rise to her challenge despite his embarrassment. MJ cocked her head, considering.

                “No, you’ll probably just say something disgusting.” At least MJ was always honest. Peter rolled his eyes before turning back towards Ned.

                “Speaking of being _disgusting_ , we need to take a picture for my Instagram.” He was already pulling his phone back out, not even giving the boy a chance to respond. Peter was always forcing Ned to take couple photos with him wherever they went anyway, and it wasn’t like the boy was ever going to say no. It would be a positive use of Instagram anyway, after the emotional letdown from the Spider-Man accounts.

                “Oh God.”

                “Don’t hate, MJ.” Ned retorted as he obediently sat up from the headboard and rested his head on Peter’s shoulder. Peter pressed his cheek against the other boy’s before pulling up his phone, camera already opened for the pictures. Both boys smiled widely and Peter snapped several photos quickly as they made various silly faces. Peter couldn’t help but laugh loudly during the last one as Ned decided to aggressively tickle his waist as he took it.

                “Stop,” he told the other boy once the photo had been taken, amusement clear in his tone as he wiggled Ned’s fingers away from him. Ned laughed in response but easily acquiesced and dropped his hands to lie on Peter’s hips. He kept his head on Peter’s shoulder to look as the other boy flicked through the pictures.

                “I love that one,” Ned told him once Peter reached the last one. He had to agree that it was a good one – Peter’s face was caught in the middle of a laugh and Ned was grinning mischievously as Peter leaned against him.

 “MJ, do you want to help pick?” Peter offered, mostly just to annoy the girl. He looked up his phone briefly to glance at her. She had turned away from them again, lying flat on her back now, and was typing away on her own phone.

“I’d rather eat a bowl of fingernails than contribute anything to your ridiculous habit of cheesy photos on Instagram.” MJ responded without looking away from her screen. Peter shrugged as Ned laughed and chose the last photo to upload to Instagram. It really was a good one.

“You pick the caption,” He told Ned, passing the phone over his shoulder towards the other boy. Ned was good at labeling things while Peter was good at capturing the best photos – together they made a fantastic Instagram couple. It only took a moment before Ned was handing his phone back for Peter’s approval.

_Couples who laugh together LAST TOGETHER_ was written followed by a series of heart-eyed emojis and a few – a perfectly acceptable amount- of hashtags, one of them the official one for the Midtown Academic Decathlon team. It was undeniably cheesy; and Peter absolutely loved it. He was smiling widely as he posted it. It was amazing how quickly Ned could make him feel better, even with the little things. He had already mostly forgotten how upset he had been about the comments on the Spider-Man account.

 “If you two are done being disgusting, Sally just texted me that Mr. Harrington wants us down in the main lobby for dinner in ten.” MJ spoke, puncturing the bit of joy Peter had gotten from updating his account. He was dreading seeing Flash again, even with the rest of the team there to buffer – Abe and Charlie, at least, had assured Peter and Ned that they were on their side because Flash had been out of line – and he was completely unprepared to deal with Mr. Harrington again after he had rushed out of the lobby with Ned.

He couldn’t help the flush that came rushing to his face. Mr. Harrington was going to want to have a talk. Odds were Mr. Harrington was going to give him and Ned the _Talk_. Or tell them he was going to talk to their parents so that _they_ would give them the Talk. May would never let him live it down if she found out Mr. Harrington thought they were being inappropriate at the hotel. Or, worse, she might find out something happened with Flash and raise hell at the school – she had threatened it before when she thought Flash had gotten out of hand and Peter really didn’t want to find himself in Principle Morita’s office for the third time in one school year.

It was almost daunting enough for Peter to wish for something Spider-Man related to happen. It would be hard for May to find out about him and Ned rushing off to a hotel room or getting into another fight with Flash if she was too busy finding out Spider-Man had been seen fighting crime in Buffalo. He would never wish for anything truly terrible to happen but a mild burglary or small alien invasion wouldn’t be too bad.

“Stop freaking out, Peter. It’ll be fine.” Ned was poking his fingers into Peter’s hip as he drove the other boy out of his thoughts. “Odds are Mr. Harrington got distracted looking up his ex-wife on Facebook again and doesn’t even remember earlier. And Flash will be on his best behavior in front of him anyway, because he thinks if he kisses enough ass he’ll be made a regular in time of the meet.” Peter wished Ned’s words worked to reassure him, but before he could even fully register the boy’s points, MJ was sitting up and speaking, an amused smirk fully placed on her lips.

“Or Mr. Harrington remembers everything and prepared one of those little lectures he makes for the whole team when he’s disappointed in someone but doesn’t want to call them out explicitly and you’ll be forced to sit through a thinly veiled sex talk that literally everyone knows is about you. And Flash will an asshole because he knows it too and wants to use it to try to get your spot on the team.” She sounded awfully cheerful as she laid out one of Peter’s worst-case scenarios.

Did she really think that was going to happen? Oh God, Peter wanted to just disappear. Maybe the earth would swallow him up entirely if he asked nicely? Or maybe he could just dip out again, tell May and Mr. Stark that something Spider-Man came up and just hide out until it was time to get back on the bus again. Mr. Harrington would be disappointed and Peter would undoubtedly get detention but at least he wouldn’t have to hear a lecture about his and Ned’s relationship in front of the entire decathlon team over dinner. Peter would take detention for the rest of his high school career to avoid that.

“Thanks, MJ. Thanks a lot for that one.” Ned’s annoyed comment barely registered with Peter as he tried to focus on an escape route. He had brought his suit – one could never be too prepared, especially with Parker luck. Surely Karen could find something for him that would be a viable enough excuse to miss the meet. Hell, he’d even willingly take a mild stab wound at this point, if it got him out of the team dinner.

Dimly, Peter knew he was spiraling but he couldn’t help himself. The amount of embarrassment MJ had proposed was too much. It would be _awful_. He barely noticed when Ned’s fingers went from poking into his side to rubbing soothing circles on them and it barely registered with him when Ned hissed “fix _this”_ to MJ.

                Peter had nearly completed his escape plan – he would go downstairs with Ned and MJ, fake needing to go to the bathroom halfway down and then take off from one of the large windows he’d seen on the lower floors of the hotel and he’d text Ned once he got a reasonable distance from the hotel so the other boy wouldn’t worry- Mr. Harrington wouldn’t give the speech if one of the people he was trying to get to wasn’t present so he wouldn’t be sacrificing Ned to face the embarrassment alone – when MJ spoke up once more.

                “Peter. _Peter_.” Peter’s gaze snapped up to MJ after she repeated his name. “I was just joking.” She told him. “Ned’s probably right and Mr. Harrington forgot all about your disappearing act earlier. So stop looking like your planning the best escape plan – if you ditch out on this competition I will personally beat you upside the head and then replace you with Flash for the fall.” MJ’s words were blunt and not all that reassuring but Peter’s plan deflated in his head anyway. Even if the dinner was a complete shitshow for him and Ned, there was no way he could disappear on MJ’s watch. She’d track him down and drag him back before making good on her threat.

                “What MJ _meant_ to say,” Ned spoke up from behind Peter, his hands still tracing soft circles into Peter’s hips, “was that it’s going to be fine and even if it’s not there’s no reason to run away because we both have your back. _Right_ , MJ?” Ned’s last words were pointed and Peter imagined that he was probably glaring at the girl over Peter’s shoulder.

                “That’s basically what I said.” She retorted before standing up, running a hand down her skirt to smooth it out. “Now get up and let’s go. I don’t want to be late and have to listen to Flash complain about how he’s always punctual and forced to wait on other people or some crap like that.” Peter, wishing he could bury himself into the bed and refuse to leave, reluctantly got off the bed to follow MJ out to the lobby. Ned was quick to follow, slipping his hand into Peter’s as he stood, giving it a gentle squeeze. It was a small comfort but Peter appreciated that Ned was trying.

                It took far too little time for MJ to lead the boys down to the lobby and Peter was focusing on not accidentally crushing Ned’s fingers as he verged on panicking as they caught sight of Mr. Harrington waiting on the far side of the lobby. Despite MJ’s fear about being late, their teacher was standing alone, awkwardly fiddling with hands as he waited for the team.

                “Can we go back?” Peter murmured at Ned, trying to fight the rising panic. Mr. Harrington hadn’t seen them yet and Peter was seriously considering whether MJ’s wrath would be worth their escape.

                “We got this,” Ned murmured back, squeezing Peter’s hand encouragingly once more as MJ marched her way across the lobby. Peter’s response died on his tongue as Mr. Harrington caught sight of them and began waving them over, apparently unconvinced that they had seen him despite them making a beeline for him. Peter swallowed hard as an involuntary flush made its way onto his cheeks. There was no escape now.

                “Hey guys!” Mr. Harrington was smiling at them as they came closer and Peter allowed him a momentary feeling of relief. Maybe Ned was right and Mr. Harrington had forgotten all about the earlier debacle. “I’m glad you’re the first to come down, I was hoping to speak with you.” Just like that, Peter’s hopes were dashed viciously. There was only one reason their teacher could want to speak with them. Mr. Harrington was still smiling, but that meant nothing, really. Mr. Harrington smiled when he was happy or proud of his students, but he also smiled when he was feeling particularly uncomfortable or anxious about something. Peter was pretty sure having to give a proper behavior talk to two students who had disappeared into a hotel room alone was one of those moments.

                This was going to be absolutely _awful_.

                “I’m going to give you boys some space.” MJ said, already turning and walking away from the situation with a careless wave of her hand. Peter envied her ability to just nope her way out of the situation. Peter had already been in this situation once before, when May had come home early, and it was simply unfair that the universe had put him in this position once more.

                It hadn’t even been his _intention_ to kiss Ned when he dragged the boy away.

                “Mr. Harrington, we really _don’t_ need to have this conversation,” Peter tried the moment MJ was far enough away that she couldn’t hear the conversation. She was already not going to let them live it down, he didn’t need to add fuel to the fire by letting her hear his attempts to derail it before it happened. He not so gently elbowed Ned when the other boy remained silent. Peter would need help to pull this off.

                “Ow-h,” Ned quickly tried – and failed – to disguise his cry of pain as he dropped Peter’s hand in surprise. “Peter’s right, Mr. Harrington. Me and Peter were just studying – nothing bad or inappropriate was happening in the hotel room at all.” Peter inwardly groaned at Ned’s words. That wasn’t going to help at all.

                Mr. Harrington blinked in confusion. “You were in a hotel room alone?”

                Peter and Ned glanced at each other, both trying to hide their surprise. “Nope.” Ned said, after a long moment.

“Of course not.” Peter added, perhaps a bit too quickly. “That would have been entirely inappropriate. Charles, Abe, and MJ were studying with us.” Not technically a lie – the others _had_ joined them for the actual studying part. “What – uh- what did you want to talk to us about?” Peter wrapped his arms around his chest briefly before quickly letting them drop. There was no reason to look nervous. Besides him, Ned was fidgeting with his fingers and Peter had to resist the urge to elbow him again. The other boy was even worse than him when it came to lying.

                “I hope you boys are telling the truth.” Mr. Harrington said, a small frown on his face. “I’d hate to have to call your parents about inappropriate behavior.” Peter hoped the nod he gave his teacher looked understanding and not panicky. “No, I wanted to speak to you about something Sally brought to my attention. She said Flash may have been giving you guys a hard time?” Peter stared at him, uncomprehending for a moment. Sally had _told_ Mr. Harrington? Everyone knew that one of the first rules was not to snitch on other students, _especially_ when it was related to Flash. “She didn’t go into any details,” Mr. Harrington hurriedly added at the looks he got from both boys. “Just expressed some concern. I wanted to make sure everything was fine and tell you guys that you can tell me about _any_ thing.” The way Mr. Harrington emphasized his words left little wonder what he meant. Sally may not have gone into any details but it was fairly obvious that she had taken Flash’s words the same way Peter had. And that she had told Mr. Harrington something about it, despite his claim otherwise.

                “Sally misread the situation, I think, sir.” Peter said firmly, before Ned could get a word in. He knew the other boy wouldn’t have hesitated to tell Mr. Harrington what Flash had said but Ned had also said some fiery things back and Peter wasn’t going to let him get in trouble because a spiteful Flash decided to return their favor. “Flash didn’t say anything bad.” Ned’s disbelieving scoff quickly turned into a cough when Peter sent him a pointed side-eye look. 

Mr. Harrington was still frowning slightly and Peter felt a little bad for lying to the man. He was a good teacher, despite his awkwardness, and Peter knew he was just trying to help. But Peter also knew that while Mr. Harrington could punish Flash, he would also have to punish Ned and Peter wasn’t going to let his boyfriend get detention just for standing up for him. “Are you sure there wasn’t anything, Peter? Midtown has a zero policy for bullying of _any_ sort.”

“I’m sure, sir.” Peter said with a firm nod and a small, fixed smile. Mr. Harrington looked like he didn’t believe the boy, but he didn’t push him either.

“Alright. Just wanted you boys know you can come to me about anything.” He said again, before briefly clamping a hand down on both boys’ shoulders. “The rest of you should be down soon so I’m going to go double-check with the hotel that I got the reservation right. Dinner’s going to be a real treat!” The customary cheerfulness was back in Mr. Harrington’s voice and he was smiling as he made his way past the two boys, towards the hotel’s reception desk on the other side.

Ned rounded on Peter the moment their teacher was out of earshot. “Seriously, Peter? I get not wanting me to fight with Flash, but not telling Mr. Harrington? Flash _deserves_ to get into trouble.” Ned’s voice was quiet but Peter still darted a glance at Mr. Harrington’s retreating form before looking back at his boyfriend.

“Flash may deserve it,” Peter began, “but _you_ told him to eff off and I don’t want you getting in trouble too. And don’t forget you have to share a room with him tonight. He’s going to be a jerk no matter what but he’ll be way worse if he knows we tattled on him.” Ned scrunched his face up in annoyance.

“Fine. But I don’t like it.” It was a petulant statement and Peter barely held back his own retort. He understood why Ned was annoyed, he really did. He’d had his own share of it while dealing with all the snide comments people made about Ned over the last few years; that didn’t mean he would let Ned get in trouble just to satisfy some vendetta against Flash.

“Let’s just get through tonight. Tomorrow we’re going to kick some butt at the competition and then not even Flash can ruin our mood.” Peter promised, trying for an excited smile as he threw an arm around Ned’s shoulders. Ned grudgingly smiled back, slipping his own arm across Peter’s back.

They could make this a good trip, still. Peter just had to push Flash from his mind. That shouldn’t be too hard.

“Hey Penis. Leeds.”

Except for when the boy showed up next to them, that is.

Peter inwardly sighed as he felt Ned tense up under his arm as the both turned to look at the sound of the voice. Flash was standing a few feet from them, obviously having just left the elevator. He was newly changed into a button-down shirt and slacks – who he was trying to impress Peter didn’t know because Mr. Harrington hardly noticed things like clothes and MJ couldn’t care less what people around her were wearing – and he was wearing his customary smirk. It was obvious that he hadn’t forgotten Ned’s words to him and was ready to give both boys a bit of hell over it.

“Flash.” Ned’s voice was surprisingly calm – undoubtedly because Mr. Harrington wasn’t too far away from the group of boys.

Flash waited a beat – for what Peter didn’t know – before his smirk widened. “Not so many big words now, huh Leeds? What, did Penis threaten to take away Lego privileges if you misbehaved anymore?” Peter squeezed Ned’s shoulder in warning. Flash was obviously trying to rile Ned up so that he could play the victim when Mr. Harrington came back over. Peter wasn’t about to let that happen, even if it meant ignoring the sting of Flash’s words and the hot flash of embarrassment that came with it.

Flash, obviously emboldened by the other boys’ lack of response, opened his mouth to say more but was interrupted by the reappearance of MJ at Peter’s elbow. “Hey Flash.” Her voice was casual but the warning in it was clear. Peter didn’t know where exactly she came from or how much she had heard but he was grateful for her appearance all the same, as Flash immediately deflated, a sullen look on his face.

“Hey MJ.” Flash wasn’t stupid enough to say anything in front of the girl and the group lapsed into silence as MJ quietly stared him down for several moments before turning towards Peter and Ned. Peter couldn’t help but grin at her and he knew without looking that Ned besides him was doing the same. It really was awesome to have such a badass friend.

“Quit staring at me like that, losers.” She told them, expressionless. Peter’s smile widened slightly before he tried to stifle it. “Cindy’s running late – Sally’s helping her get ready which I’m pretty sure is code for hiding some new hickey on her neck before Mr. Harrington sees her.” Peter wasn’t quite sure how MJ could say things like that with a straight face – or why exactly she felt like she needed to share the information because Peter _really_ didn’t need to know what Cindy and Abe got up to together – but she looked almost bored as she spoke. “Abe and Charles are waiting outside. We can join them or hang out in here while Mr. Harrington finishes setting everything up.” She gestured towards their teacher. “I don’t care either way.”

“I’m going to go outside,” Flash spoke up first, already turning to move away.

“Wasn’t talking to you and don’t care.” MJ replied without even looking. Peter bit his lip to hide his amusement – Flash wasn’t going to take well to the rejection – but Ned didn’t bother masking his laugh. Flash shot them a glare before turning all the way around and huffing his way outside. “I changed my mind. Let’s stay in here - I don’t want to catch Flash’s assholery.” MJ told them, gesturing towards a small circle of comfortable looking armchairs for them to sit in.

Peter didn’t bother to hide his laugh, then, as the trio made their way to the seats.

All of Peter’s worries about the evening were fading. Flash wasn’t going to try anything at dinner with Mr. Harrington around and their teacher was oblivious enough and trusting enough that Peter wasn’t going to be subject to any awful, humiliating sex talk. And as long as MJ stood by them, Flash wasn’t going to be able to say anything to them after dinner either and odds are he wouldn’t try anything while Ned and him were sharing a bedroom either. They’d have to worry about his attitude when they were back in school, but Peter was used to dealing with Flash at school already.

It was looking increasingly like Peter might be able to have an actually decent high school field trip for once.

He really, really should have known better.

Dinner went well – Mr. Harrington’s surprise turned out to be a very fancy restaurant with everyone’s meal already paid for which was, for once, a happy surprise for the students. Flash had sat as far away from MJ as he could, which meant that he wasn’t anywhere near Peter and Ned and the boys spent the entire time snagging food of each other’s plates as they debated how good the new season of _American Horror Story_ was going to be with MJ. Peter as a general rule hated scary things but Ned and MJ had gotten him into the anthology with the campy _Coven_ season and his boyfriend had promised to cuddle with him during the intense scenes so he was willing to give it a chance.

MJ was convinced it was going to be lame – she hated apocalypse stories in general – but Ned was optimistic that the return of some of the old cast was going to lift the show up. Peter really didn’t care, having only seen the one season, but he was happy to loyally side with his boyfriend and debate it with MJ over some ridiculously fancy looking chicken strips.

It had been a good time; Peter should’ve known the evening was just going to go downhill from there.

The trouble started up again as they all piled back onto the bus, leftovers from dinner in everyone’s hands. Peter didn’t catch who suggested it – Sally or Cindy most likely – but as soon as they were all seated a discussion about hitting up the pool at the hotel began. Peter would have opted out of it – he and water hadn’t really seen eye-to-eye after the Vulture had thrown him into a lake and it had only been gotten worse after the ferry incident – but the glare MJ threw at him the moment he mentioned just going to his hotel room told him that wasn’t an option. He couldn’t really blame the girl – he _had_ disappeared last competition after refusing to go to the pool – but that didn’t mean he had to like it.

“You can just bring your phone and relax on one of the chairs.” Ned suggested as Peter reluctantly agreed to go. Ned was the only other person Peter had told about his issues with water – not even May or Mr. Stark knew that Peter couldn’t stand to be in water that went higher than his waist – and even that was because Karen had automatically called Ned when Peter nearly had a panic attack when a fight ended with him and the thief taking a dip in the Hudson. There was no way he could come up with a good enough explanation to his classmates that would get him out of going to the pool and telling the truth was obviously out of the question.

“I guess,” Peter mumbled back, leaning into Ned’s sympathetic touch as the bus made its way back to the hotel. He supposed sitting in one of the lounge chairs at the shallow end would be alright. He was mostly concerned that his classmates would pressure him into getting in the water – there was no way he could excuse himself from the pool without Flash and possibly some of the others giving him trouble for being afraid of the water. Or try to push him in. He wouldn’t put it past Abe and Charles – it was the type of thing both boys found hilarious. “As long as no one tries to get me in.” Peter couldn’t help but share his fear, careful to keep his voice low so only Ned could hear him.

“I wouldn’t worry about that. MJ refused to get in last time and no one gave her trouble about it. Just sit by her and it’ll be okay. I’ll hang out with you guys too so if anyone asks, we can say I don’t feel like getting in and you’re keeping me and MJ company.” Ned offered, careful to also keep his voice low.

“Nah, you go ahead and swim. I’ll hang with MJ.” Peter responded, smiling at his boyfriend in a way that he hoped was convincing. He would love to have Ned stay with him of course – especially because MJ was almost definitely going to bring a book to read – but he also knew how much Ned liked to swim and he didn’t want to deprive the boy of the chance. “It’ll be okay.” He repeated, as the bus turned into the hotel parking lot. He didn’t quite believe it, but perhaps it would manifest if Peter said it enough times.

He should have known to trust his instincts.

The team piled out the bus in an excited rush to get ready for the pool, all except Peter, Ned, and MJ. MJ had technically been the first off the bus after Mr. Harrington, who was content to let the teens do what they wished with just a quick warning against physical damage to the hotel, but she had waited for the two boys to make their way off the bus.

“You’re going to the pool, Parker.” She said in lieu of a greeting. Peter barely stopped himself from making a face.

“I already said I would, MJ.” He had to work to keep the whine out of his voice. He _really_ didn’t want to be by the pool.

“Just making sure. I don’t need you disappearing on me.” One time. He had disappeared from an Academic Decathlon event _one_ time. And no one ever let him forget it.

“He’s not going to disappear.” Ned spoke up as they made their way into the lobby and towards the elevator. Their teammates and Mr. Harrington were already gone from the lobby – their teacher had probably disappeared into his room to hide for the rest of the evening and their classmates had undoubtedly rushed to get into their bathing suits.

“He better not. Or I’m going to blame you as much as I do him.” MJ responded, the warning in her voice clear despite her bored tone as they entered the elevator. Peter barely resisted a shudder at the idea of what she would do if he did disappear. Even to her friends, MJ was not someone to be trifled with

                “We’ll both be there,” Peter reassured her as the elevator came to a stop and they piled out. MJ shot them one last severe look before disappearing down the hall towards her own room. “There’s no trust anymore.” Peter complained once she was out of sight.

                “Do you really blame her?” Ned asked, amusement clear in his voice as they made their way to their hotel rooms.

                “Don’t even, man. It was _one_ time.” Ned didn’t even try to hide his laugh and Peter lightly shoved him with his shoulder in retaliation as they stopped outside Peter’s door. The dread in Peter’s stomach grew a little heavier at the reminder that Ned was going to have to carry on down the hallway to his room with Flash. He couldn’t help the worry he still felt at the idea of Ned being forced to be alone with the other boy.

                “See you in a few. _Don’t_ disappear out the window.” Peter’s face scrunched up in annoyance at Ned’s final parting shot as his boyfriend turned away from him.

                “One time! _Once_!” He called to the boy’s retreating form, all worry about Flash fleeing from his mind. He disappeared once from an Academic Decathlon meet – excluding all the missed practices and school days which Peter refused to count because that was _different_ – and not even Ned would let it go. It was totally unfair.

                Peter was still grumbling under his breath about it as he let himself into the hotel room and was greeted to the sight of his roommates already in their bathing suit trunks, lounging on the beds.

                “Hurry up, Parker!” Abe told him immediately, not even looking up from the phone in his hand. “The girls are already ready.” Peter resisted the urge to grumble at the other boy as he bent down to grab his bag. He hadn’t brought any actual swimming clothes but he had packed a pair of shorts to sleep in in case the hotel was warm which he figured would be good enough. It wasn’t like he was going to get into the pool anyway. He grabbed the shorts and a plain t-shirt before slipping past the other two boys and into the bathroom.

                He made quick work of changing, knowing that Abe would not hesitate to bang down the door if he took too long, before he made his way out of the bathroom again. He tossed his clothes over in the general direction of his bag – the other boys weren’t being too mindful about cleanliness judging from the clothes thrown around the room so there was no need to worry about it – and then turned to the other boys who were quick to jump from the beds and grab their towels.

                “Let’s go!” Abe said, jumping to the door. Peter knew he was probably just excited to see Cindy in a swimsuit but he couldn’t help but roll his eyes anyway. He saw the girl every day, there was no reason to be pushy about it. Peter knew he was clingy with Ned, but he didn’t think he was so obliviously annoying about it. But perhaps he was just in a bad mood – Abe hardly usually bothered him.

                Abe or Charles must have texted the girls that they were ready because they were already waiting by the elevator. All three of them were dressed for the pool with towels in their hands, but true to form, MJ had also grabbed a rather large book. Peter felt a little less uneasy when he saw it – no one would dare give MJ trouble for sitting out so perhaps he would be okay too.

                “Where’s Ned and Flash?” Sally asked when the boys stopped in front of them. The question was open but obviously directed towards Peter who shrugged in response.

                “Maybe they killed each other.” Abe suggested, his arm already wrapped around Cindy’s waist.

                “Not funny,” Peter told him, making a face at him. They couldn’t have gotten into a fight that quickly, Peter was pretty sure. Ned had promised to try to not get into another fight with the boy.

                Then again, it _was_ Flash. He could pick a fight with a brick wall if it suited him.

                Before Peter had time to really get himself worked up by Abe’s words, Ned and Flash appeared, walking down the hall. There was a fair distance between the two of them and they were both zealously silent, but at least there was no obvious signs that the two had fought. Maybe it would be alright after all. Peter shot a small smile at Ned before the whole team crammed their way into the elevator.

                “Mr. Harrington wants me to go over some rules while we are at the pool.” MJ began the moment the doors closed behind them. Peter wasn’t sure how she managed to be in the front with several inches between her and everyone else when he was fairly certain she had been one of the first people in, but he supposed MJ always had her ways. “We’re supposed to be respectful, not too loud, and all that nonsense. I’m adding a couple to that - no gross couple things and everyone who goes down better come back up.” Peter flushed. Those specific rules were obviously about him, although Abe and Cindy could definitely apply to the gross couple rule, and it was embarrassing to already be singled out.

                _One_ time from a field trip.

                “It’s going to be fine.” Ned, who had squeezed himself past the rest of their classmates to ensure that he was squished in near Peter, whispered to him as he briefly grabbed his hand and squeezed his fingers before dropping it back down again. Peter knew it was best not to tempt MJ’s anger but he wished Ned had kept his hand in his – the touch was comforting.

                “Easy for you to say.” He mumbled back as the elevator came to a stop and everyone pushed their way out. It wasn’t Ned who got ridiculously anxious around large bodies of water. His boyfriend shot him another sympathetic look as they followed everyone else out to the pool and Peter tried to quell his unease. He didn’t want Ned to spend his entire evening worrying about Peter when he could be enjoying himself instead.

                The pool was large but, not surprisingly, empty and Flash and Abe both gave woops of joy as they raced to drop their towels down on two empty lounge chairs and get into the water. So much for the quiet rule. Cindy, Sally, Abe, and Charles followed the two boys into the water, much less loudly, leaving Ned, Peter, and MJ alone outside of the pool.

                “Losers getting in?” MJ asked as she dropped down into one of the chairs and opened her book, obviously not really caring for an answer. Peter eased himself down into the chair next to her, assuming that was answer enough. He couldn’t help but eye the pool uneasily as he surreptitiously pushed his chair away from the water. Ned was still standing next to him, watching Peter with concern.

                “Go ahead and swim,” Peter told him, slipping a smile onto his face. “I’ll hang with MJ, it’ll be fun.”

                “Interrupt me with bullshit and I will smack you, Parker.” MJ replied without looking up from her book. Peter barely resisted rolling his eyes.

                “I’ll read on my phone.” He corrected himself. “Go before the guys come over to try and drag us in.” Abe and Charles were already watching them and Peter knew it wasn’t going to be long before they were both swimming over to wheedle them into the water.

                “You sure?” Ned asked and Peter felt his heart swell a little. He didn’t know how he had gotten so lucky but his boyfriend was easily the sweetest teenager in the world.

                “I’m sure. Go!” Peter reached up and snatched Ned’s towel from his hand before shooing him away. Ned shot him a grateful smile before turning and rushing into the water with a loud cry. Peter grinned as he watched his boyfriend immediately join in a game of chicken Sally had gotten started. He was far enough away from the pool that he didn’t feel his fear of the water rage up and could enjoy watching his friends have fun.

                “Not interested in the pool, Parker?” MJ’s voice brought Peter’s attention to her and he turned to see she was watching him over her book. It was one of her disconcertingly observant expressions and Peter tried to keep a guilty flush off his face as he responded.

                “Nah, not really my thing.” Peter tried to play it off casually, hoping MJ would get bored and let him be. “You either?” He asked after a moment, when her overly-observant stare got too much.

                “Nope.” She replied after another moment, returning her gaze to her book and letting the conversation drop. Peter quietly let out a sigh of relief before turning his gaze back to the pool. Charles were currently sitting up on Sally’s shoulders, trying his best to knock Cindy off of Ned’s shoulders while Flash and Abe looked on, evidently waiting to compete against the winner. They were laughing loudly as they splashed around and taunting each other and Peter felt a brief stab of regret. He would have loved to play with the others too, but he knew that he would probably seize up with nerves the moment he got too close to the water. It was one of the less awesome parts of being a super-hero, even Peter could admit. But at least he knew his limits.

                Peter watched the game until Cindy, with the help of Ned surging forward quickly, eventually managed to knock Charles off Sally’s shoulders. Peter couldn’t help but cheer for his boyfriend’s team and grinned widely when Ned turned back to him, a triumphant smile on his face as he let out his own loud whoop along with Cindy. It was nice to see Ned having fun and Peter had to admit Ned looked awfully cute with water dripping from his hair, curling the edges against his ears.

                It didn’t take long for Flash and Abe to come forward to play the next game and Peter’s stomach clenched uncomfortably at the idea of Ned squaring off against Flash. He didn’t think Flash would do anything in front of everyone else while they were supposed to be playing a game, but he couldn’t know for sure. A pool was an awfully good place to make something look like an accident, after all.

                Peter may have been spending too much time fighting villains. _Normal_ people didn’t attack people and make it look like accidents, Ned was going to be fine.

 Probably.

Peter nearly looked away when Cindy climbed back onto Ned’s shoulders, fingers thrumming against the plastic arm of his lounge chair nervously, but he forced himself to keep watching as Abe climbed up on Flash’s shoulders. He was sure – mostly- that he was overreacting but he needed to keep watch just in case Flash really did try something. The game started slow – neither Cindy nor Abe seemed keen to make the first move against each other – and it wasn’t long until Charles and Sally were jeering from the side of the pool, egging on their classmates.

Peter wished they wouldn’t. He knew it was all in good fun but he didn’t like the way Flash’s face scrunched in annoyance when they called out at him. He definitely didn’t like the sudden lunge Flash made towards Ned, Abe reaching out quickly to try to push Cindy off his shoulders. He knew it was the goal of the game, to go after the other pair, but something inside him instinctively clenched when Flash got too close to Ned.

Ned was quicker than the other boys expected, even with Cindy on his shoulders, and he stepped out of Abe’s reach while Cindy, taller than any of the boys currently playing,  reached out her own arms. Rather than try to pull down Abe, whose legs were tightly held by Flash, she cut out the middle ground and shoved the lower boy. Flash, who hadn’t been expecting the dirty play, lost his balance and both boys went crashing into the water to the cheers of Ned and Cindy. Just like that, it was over. Peter’s stomach unclenched some when Ned turned towards him again, a huge grin on his face and he returned the smile with a thumbs up of his own.

Peter’s ease grew even more when, rather than joining the next game, Ned instead made his way to the side of the pool and hoisted himself over the edge. He would have never asked Ned to join him outside the pool, but he wasn’t going to complain if the other boy chose to on his own volition.

“Hey,” Peter said, smiling widely as Ned came to stand by his lounge chair, shivering slightly in the cool night air. Peter handed him the towel he’d snatched from him earlier and the other boy took it with a grin. “Done in the water?” He asked as he watched Ned wrap himself up tightly.

“Yeah, it was fun and all but it’s not as fun as being with you.” Peter felt himself flush a little at Ned’s words. He knew without looking that MJ was rolling her eyes at them but he didn’t really care. He liked the cheesy cuteness that Ned always seemed full of. “Scoot over?” The other boy asked him, gesturing towards the chair. The chair was fairly wide and there was definitely enough room for both boys to lie together but Peter still scrunched his face in feigned disgust.

“You’re wet.” He said matter-of-factly, trying to keep an amused smile off his face as Ned pouted at him. They both knew Peter would never turn down cuddling, even if the other boy was sopping wet.

“Peettteerrr.” Ned whined and Peter laughed as he obediently moved over, patting the newly empty spot beside him.

“Only because you’re cute,” he couldn’t help but add as Ned happily slid up next to him. Peter shivered slightly as he felt Ned’s wet leg against his own but made no move to scoot away. He was pretty much always willing to be close to Ned.

“And I use it to my advantage.” Ned responded, a wide grin on his face as he curled up next to Peter, still tightly wound up in his towel. Peter made a show of rolling his eyes but a smile tugged at his lips nevertheless. Ned’s cheeky confidence was something he greatly enjoyed, even if he would never admit it aloud. “You’re so warm.” Ned hummed at him, cuddling closer and wrapping one very wet, very _cold_ arm around Peter’s waist. Peter instinctively flinched away from the shocking cold and then froze. He had been trying very hard not to do something like that because he knew Ned was in a playful mood.

Ned in a playful mood generally did not bode well for Peter.

“Don’t you dare –“ Peter tried to scoot away from the other boy slightly but it was too late. He’d invited the devil into the chair with him and he would pay the price. Peter squeaked – a truly mortifying sound that he was never going to live down – as Ned’s icy fingers slipped under his shirt to splay against the warmth of Peter’s back. “Dude!” Peter’s voice was indignant as Ned laughed, hands slipping back out from under Peter’s shirt. Peter was still glaring when Ned wrapped his arms around him and pulled him close.

“You’re freaking cold!” Peter grouched loudly, allowing himself to be pulled in despite his protests. He really couldn’t resist Ned, especially when he was like this. It might become a problem someday, but Peter couldn’t think of a reason why when Ned was smiling at him brightly, lips looking enticingly inviting.

Which was the exact moment the universe reared its ugly head and Peter’s field trip truly went to hell.

“Eww! Penis, Leeds get a room!” Peter and Ned sprang apart quickly, Ned yelping as he slammed his back into the plastic arm of the lounge chair. Peter’s face bloomed scarlet as he took in the rest of the Academic Decathlon team looking at them. How he had forgotten they were in _public_? This was _awful._ Worse, even, than when Aunt May had walked in on them. Peter had truly thought he could never top that level of sheer embarrassment but somehow the universe had found a way.

                Most of them seemed simply amused – Sally was definitely hiding a laugh behind her hand and Cindy was standing suspiciously close to the edge of the pool, one hand resting on top of her phone which she had undoubtedly just put down very quickly – but Flash was pointing at them, standing halfway up the ladder on the side of the pool. Peter couldn’t read his expression - other than that he looked smug but Flash always looked that way whenever he managed to embarrass the other two boys – and his heart thundered painfully as he waited for Flash to say something more. He just knew he was going to say something terrible – something much worse than the twisted way he had said _bestie_ earlier.

                Peter had rarely felt ashamed for who he was but he did in that moment, still sitting close to Ned but not touching him – being too _afraid_ to touch him – as he stared at Flash. It was an awful, burning feeling in the pit of his stomach that he hadn’t felt since May had found out he was Spider-Man and had been lying to her for months, and he hated it. Hated that anyone could make him feel that way with such simple words, just for being close to his boyfriend. Hated that anyone could make him feel as though there was something wrong, even just for a moment, with being affectionate with Ned in public.

                The minutes stretched longer than Peter thought was possible, an excruciatingly painful moment where it seemed everything stopped as everyone seemed to wait for Flash to say something else – not even Ned, who had been quick to shut Flash down earlier, had something to break the silence. It dragged for another hellish moment before finally being broken, not by Flash as Peter had expected, but by the loud thump of a thick book closing beside him. Peter nearly flinched as he, along with everyone else, turned to look at MJ.

                Her face was neutral, as always, but there was a dark glint in her eye that Peter knew meant trouble. He watched silently as she sat up straight and leaned forward towards the pool, narrowing her eyes into a glare as she stared Flash down. It was amazing how quickly the mood shifted – from amused to a little unsure to downright fear as everyone took in MJ’s mood. She didn’t often get like this but they had all seen it once or twice before. Peter himself had seen it just a few weeks ago, outside the ice cream shop the trio had taken to meeting at for study dates, when some jerk college student had catcalled her. He had never seen someone look so shocked as that boy did when MJ had demanded his mother’s number to tell her what an asshole she had raised. It had been beautiful and terrifying at the same time, and Peter was pretty sure he was about to see it again.

                He nearly felt bad for Flash. But he mostly just felt embarrassed that this entire situation was happening in the first place. And he fully blamed the other boy for that.

                MJ waited another moment, just glaring at Flash, before she finally began speaking. Her voice was quiet but harsh and it carried throughout the pool area well as everyone craned to listen. “Could you be any more homophobic, Flash? I mean, honestly. Cindy and Abe – “ MJ gestured sharply towards the other couple, not breaking the eye contact between her and Flash. The other boy looked utterly shocked and mildly terrified as MJ continued. “Were literally sucking each other’s faces the entire way here on the bus and you didn’t say anything. But two boys cuddle in a lounge chair and _that’s_ somehow too sexual for you? Like there’s something inherently sexual or gross about a gay couple being affectionate that isn’t there with a straight one? Ned and Peter don’t ‘need to get a room’ for existing as a couple and if you are too immature to handle that you can talk to Mr. Harrington about not coming to anymore of the meets because I don’t want such a complete _asshole_ on this team.” 

                Absolute silence followed MJ’s pronunciation as everyone stared either at Flash or down at their feet. Peter himself couldn’t take his eyes off the other boy – Flash seemed truly shocked at having been called out by MJ, eyes wide and mouth thrown open. It took several moments for him to collect himself enough to do anything else but when he turned his shocked gaze to Ned and Peter’s chair, Peter braced himself for another jerk comment as Flash tried to defend himself.

                “You guys are actually _dating?_ Since when have you been gay?”

                Okay, Peter hadn’t been expecting that. At all.

                Flash hadn’t known they were dating?

                Flash thought Peter was _straight_?

                Flash hadn’t been being homophobic when he had taunted Ned and Peter for being so close. He hadn’t been being homophobic when he had yelled out for them to get a room, drawing everyone’s attention to them in  such a humiliating way.

                Flash hadn’t been being homophobic at all, he was just a complete, mind-bogglingly blind, idiot.

                Something inside Peter snapped at the realization. He began laughing. Everyone’s eyes snapped towards him but, for once, Peter paid the stares no mind. Instead, he curled into Ned, placing a hand on his chest for balance as he kept laughing at the sheer ridiculousness of the whole situation. All this time, Peter had thought Flash was being homophobic. Ned had thought Flash was being homophobic and had shut him down for it, and Peter had been worrying Flash would do something in retaliation. But, instead, Flash was just being an idiot, as usual.

                Tears came to Peter’s eyes as he finally calmed down from the laughter and he wiped them with his free hand, not bothering to move away from Ned again. “Sorry, sorry.” Peter finally said, amusement still clear in his voice as he turned to look back at Flash in the pool. The other boy was glaring at him now and the rest of the team was looking at him as well – some seemed amused while others looked mildly concerned, but Peter paid that no mind. His attention was focused fully on Flash and he had to bite back another round of laughter at the other boy’s face. This was just completely ridiculous.

                “I didn’t mean to laugh,” he tried a bit for diplomacy. He really _didn’t_ want to provoke Flash any further. “It’s just – I mean-” Peter searched a moment for a tactical way to put his words together. “How _stupid_ are you?” That really _had_ been the nicest way of putting his thoughts together, he would tell a heavily laughing, immensely proud Ned later. “Setting aside the ‘since when have you been gay’ comment - which is never _not_ offensive by the way, don’t say that – I think asking if we are dating is the single most ridiculous thing you have _ever_ said. Come on, man, we haven’t exactly been subtle. _Subtle_ is not in either of our vocabularies. What did you think was happening? We were just – I don’t even know – two dudes cuddling in a lounge chair, less than an inch apart, because we’re not _gay_?” Flash looked nearly apoplectic but Peter hardly cared as he felt the soft vibrations of Ned silently laughing besides him. Flash deserved it anyway. For being a sheer idiot.

                Flash scowled at Peter for another moment before turning to the rest of the team. “How many of you knew Parker and Leeds were dating?” He asked, obviously hoping for some validation that he wasn’t the only blind one. He was sorely disappointed.  

                “You’re joking right?” Abe demanded, staring at his friend incredulously. “They’ve been together for _weeks_ now. They cuddle all the time. Peter _kissed_ Ned after AP Chem last week.”

                “They hold hands when they walk in the halls,” Charles added.

                “Peter fell asleep being held by Ned before we all got on the bus _this_ morning.” Sally reminded him.

                “Their Instas and snapchats are full of coupley photos and videos.” Cindy said. “We have a group Snapchat that is just them being adorable together.” She added, which was definitely news to Peter. He’d have to talk to her about that later and found out exactly who ‘we’ was.

                “Even Mr. Harrington noticed.” MJ spoke up. “Why do you think he made Ned room with you rather than Peter, dumbass?” Peter turned to look at his friend as she spoke. She no longer seemed incredibly angry. Instead, she sat back in her lounge chair with an amused half-smirk on her face, obviously entertained watching Flash make a fool of himself. The small, malicious part of Peter had to admit he was also enjoying himself.

                Flash floundered. “I – well – I just thought they were really close friends or something! I didn’t realize they were actually dating!”

                Peter snorted again, despite himself. “I guess that’s one way to put it. We’re just really close friends.” Peter’s voice oozed with sarcasm as he shifted slightly so he could look at Ned. The other boy was staring up at him, barely refraining from letting out his laughter.  “We say ‘no homo’ every time we kiss to maintain the ‘bro’ part of the bromance and everything.” Ned lost it at that, letting out a loud peal of laughter that Peter was soon joining in on. It was bit mean, probably, to be laughing at Flash like that, but after all the other boy had done to them, Peter couldn’t bring himself to feel too bad about it.

                The others joined in their laughter – it was contagious, spreading throughout the Academic Decathlon team quickly. Charles and Cindy had the decency to try and hide their giggles behind their hands to try and save Flash from some of the embarrassment but the rest didn’t bother and were laughing away openly. Even MJ had joined in, laughing softly besides Peter and Ned.

                “You all are the freaking worst.” Flash fumed, pulling himself out of the pool. “It’s not my fault I didn’t notice, it’s not like I’m paying attention to what you two losers are doing anyway.” He added, just to be mean, as he angrily wrapped his towel around himself. Peter didn’t even bother getting upset by his words, choosing instead to sit up, pulling Ned up with him with an easy hand and an even easier smile.

                “At least we’re losers with a standing Saturday date.” Peter told him. “When was your last girlfriend, again – 6th grade?” It was a cheap shot, but Peter was feeling vindictive. He’d regret it later, probably, or Flash would make him regret it but the boy had put him through enough that Peter felt justified in giving some in return. “Come on.” He told Ned, who seemed torn between amused and amazed at Peter taking shots at Flash. Peter was pretty sure that when Ned was capable of talking again – as he currently, for once, seemed completely speechless – he was going to get an earful of Ned calling him a hypocrite for saying things he definitely wouldn’t be cool with the other boy saying but that was a problem for later.

                “Where are you going?” Flash demanded, angrily watching as Ned obediently allowed himself to be pulled from the chair and onto his feet.

                “I hate the pool.” Peter responded, being honest for once. “And there are at least two empty hotel rooms that I can go and cuddle my _boyfriend_ in while watching stupid Youtube videos on my laptop. I’m going to go do that, obviously.” Flash’s face scrunched up into a rather amusing face, as though he wasn’t quite sure what he was supposed to do with that information.

                “That’s against the rules! You can’t hang out alone together on a school function!” He said finally, pointing one finger at Peter and Ned accusingly. Peter didn’t even bother to respond, instead just turning his gaze towards MJ. The girl had returned to her book once more, but it was obvious she was still listening to Peter and Flash just as aptly as the rest of the team was.

                “Oh shut up, Flash. It’s not like either of them is getting pregnant anytime soon.” She said, not even bothering to look up from her book as Flash choked. Peter flushed slightly at her words but sent her a grateful smile anyway before grabbing Ned’s hand to pull him away from the pool and towards the hotel. Ned, who had started laughing again at the combination of MJ’s response and Flash’s reaction, went along with him easily and the boys made their way out of the pool area, easily ignoring the angry yelling from Flash that followed them.

                Once they made their way into the hotel, letting the door close quietly behind them, Ned tugged on Peter’s hand until the other boy followed him into a little alcove, out of sight of the curious night clerk who had looked up when they had opened the door.

                “What?” Peter asked, careful to keep his voice low. He really didn’t the hotel clerk to come over and yell at them for loitering in the lobby or something. Ned was smiling widely, so he knew the boy wasn’t angry at him, and he wasn’t too surprised when Ned leaned up and pressed a chaste kiss against Peter’s lips.

                “You’re amazing,” Ned whispered, mouth still close enough that the words tickled against Peter’s. “And a total hypocrite. But amazing. I really lucked out with you.” Peter’s felt his face flush at Ned’s words – he really was _never_ going to get used to Ned saying things like that to him but he couldn’t say he minded it, much.

                And he really didn’t mind when Ned closed the distance between them with an even deeper kiss that cut off any response Peter had to make. Which really was a shame, because Ned had one thing wrong and that was that Peter had been the one to really luck out, having someone like Ned at his side, and Peter really wanted to tell him that.

                It was a testament to Peter’s good mood that when, five minutes later, the two boys were interrupted by the desk clerk loudly clearing his throat and suggesting that they move upstairs, Peter still felt lucky to have Ned and only partially blamed him for the sheer embarrassment.

                As both boys made their way out of the alcove, apologizing profusely to the older man, Peter had to admit that it hadn’t truly been an awful field trip. He’d never want to repeat it, but it wasn’t in the top five worst.

                He was never going to live down the embarrassment of being caught with Ned twice in one day, by both the entire team and an actual adult, but all in all it hadn’t been terrible.

                Having the warmth of Ned’s hand in his own as they made their way into elevator under the watchful eye of the desk clerk definitely made it better.

                Having an empty hotel room waiting for them upstairs also definitely helped in making it a good field trip. But Peter wasn’t about to admit that to anyone.

                Well, maybe to Ned. But just him.

                Hopefully.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, I'm sorry it's been so long! I got crazy swamped with grad school, but it's calmed down some. I probably won't be able to update as often as I did when I started this series but I definitely plan on continuing it. Next up, I was thinking of doing something with the Avengers meeting Peter so please keep an eye out for that if this series still interests you all! Also, if anyone is interested in sending in ideas for what you wanna see Peter (and Ned!) get up to, feel free to send them in! Thank you for reading this and I hope you enjoyed it!

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, sorry for the long wait! This was actually supposed to be much longer (it will be two parts instead) but it's been so long since I updated that I wanted to get the first half up now. I'm back at grad school now, so expect my future updates to take long as well, although I will try to have them up as soon as possible. Anyway, I hope you liked this - I really like the idea of over-protective Ned and Peter just exasperated that someone else is taking his place as the stupidly reckless one so expect more of that. Thank you for reading!


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